Guy

Guy

Guy pioneered the New Jack Swing sound, essentially traditional soul vocals melded to hip-hop beats. The group formed in 1987 in Harlem,Â featuring R&B singer-songwriters Teddy Riley, Aaron Hall and Timmy Gatling. Riley and Gatling were childhood friends and previously worked together in the band Kids At Work. Meanwhile, Riley and Hall got together on other projects, including Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative” and Johnny Kemp’s “Just Got Paid.â€

The group signed to Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records and released its debut album Guy in June 1988. Of five singles released from the self-titled album, four were significant R&B hits. The singles, “‘Round And ‘Roundâ€ (Merry-Go-Round of Love), (US R&B No. 24); “Groove Me,” (US R&B No. 4); “Teddy’s Jam,” (US R&B No. 5); “I Like,” (US R&B No. 2); and “Spend the Night” (US R&B No.15), propelled the album to double-platinum status. Â Another song from the album, “Piece of My Love,” also received a tremendous amount of airplay on R&B stations. The album impressively climbed to No. 27 on the US Top 200 Album Chart, and peaked at No. 1 on the R&B Album Chart.

Guy reunited in 1999, with Riley and the Hall brothers releasing their first album in nine years titled â€œGuy III.â€ The album featured the modest hit “Dancin’,” which peaked at No. 19 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart, becoming surprisingly its biggest hit on the pop charts.